Capturing our days in new light

I don't even know where we heard this first, but someone recommended while we were paying off our student loans that we budget a specific amount every month that we can each spend month on whatever we would like- whether it be a Starbucks while we are out, a shirt, new shoes. It didn't matter what we spent it on, but we could spend it however we wanted and we didn't have to "check in" with each other before we used our personal spending money.

I remember while we were pouring every extra penny we had toward our student debt right after college the freedom that small amount of money brought was so nice. Most of the time I spent it at Loft which was two blocks from our apartment because they had the best deals and I loved having a new shirt every month (oh the materialism- and I wish I could tell you that my desires have changed but they really haven't lol) Dan on the other hand, is quite the saver as we found out. He always has way more money to spend than me because he never buys anything and it just rolls over from month to month, while I am the one that is usually spending my next month's personal spending money on something this month lol.

And while my desires for new shirts haven't gone away, my excitement for photography has become more important and that's what I find myself spending my extra spending money on these days! And this month, I was SO excited to see that Clickin Mom's was offering a breakout class led by Meg Loeks. You guys, just check out her instagram. Her photos are ridiculously good. They are almost like a painting, really. And her use of light is so so great. I have learned so much from her breakout. She has encouraged me to examine the light in our house in new ways. To be honest with you, before this class I mainly looked for the room with the most light and only took pictures there- avoiding all low light situations. However, she has shown me that some darkness in photos isn't something to shy away from. I love one of the quotes she uses in her breakout:

"In order for the light to shine so brightly, the darkness must be present.” - Francis Bacon

So there's a little bit about what I'm learning about photography. Something I love about photography is that I'm always learning, I'm always growing, and I'm always being challenged. I love being able to capture all the little moments throughout our day and I try to push myself to capture all the ways I see God's goodness evident in our every day activities, even if we're not having the best day over here. (Because any mom with young kiddos- or probably older kiddos for that matter!- knows that Cole isn't smiling 24/ 7 lol) But the little hugs, smiles, and moments that I capture Jake comforting Cole if he's fussy, are well worth remembering. And I love that this new class that I took has opened up my eyes to taking photos in places and light that I would normally have thought "wouldn't be worth it" because it would be too dark. So here's more pictures of our life recently :)